AUDIO
UNFOLDING MEMORIES
Audio 2/15
2.
UNFOLDING MEMORIES – From Pockets to Pages
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AUDIO
From Pockets to Pages
Right at the top of the stairway leading up to the exhibition space, we encounter five photo albums from the Draiflessen Collection Archive. They illustrate fascinating developments in photography and in the use of photo albums.
The oldest two albums date to the period around 1900. They contain cartes de visite, which are small portraits usually taken in photography studios. The pictures were inserted into precut windows in the album pages. This allowed people to remove them again, to rearrange them, or to add other photos, often creating entire portrait galleries of ancestors, family members, and friends.
Over time, however, photographic practices changed, and albums followed suit. The emergence of amateur photography introduced a new range of subjects, including pictures of daily life, excursions, and travel. In response, many albums began to feature blank pages on which people could arrange photographs as they chose.
This allowed more creative freedom, and the albums became more personal as a result. The pictures no longer stand rigidly side by side, but interact with each other. If we look closely, we even discover some individuals in multiple photographs. In this way, small glimpses into family relationships and life stories gradually emerge.
The oldest two albums date to the period around 1900. They contain cartes de visite, which are small portraits usually taken in photography studios. The pictures were inserted into precut windows in the album pages. This allowed people to remove them again, to rearrange them, or to add other photos, often creating entire portrait galleries of ancestors, family members, and friends.
Over time, however, photographic practices changed, and albums followed suit. The emergence of amateur photography introduced a new range of subjects, including pictures of daily life, excursions, and travel. In response, many albums began to feature blank pages on which people could arrange photographs as they chose.
This allowed more creative freedom, and the albums became more personal as a result. The pictures no longer stand rigidly side by side, but interact with each other. If we look closely, we even discover some individuals in multiple photographs. In this way, small glimpses into family relationships and life stories gradually emerge.